UPDATE 2-Peru police clash with wildcat miners, one dead

* Police and army in campaign against wildcat gold mining
(Adds details, background)

LIMA, March 1 (Reuters) - A clash between Peruvian police
and wildcat gold miners resulted in the death of one miner and
the wounding of 14 others on Tuesday at a protest against the
army's seizure of illegal dredges in the Amazon basin, a
witness said.

It was the latest violent conflict over natural resources
to flare up during President Alan Garcia's term in Peru, a
leading global gold exporter. Persistent social conflicts have
become a central issue in Peru's April presidential election,
when Garcia cannot run for a second term.

Juan Rojas, a local radio journalist in Madre de Dios, a
remote region where the clash occurred, said some of the
wounded suffered bullet wounds. Local media also reported one
death and about 10 wounded. A leader of the miners said four
people were killed but this could not be independently
verified. Police provided no comment.

Peru is the world's No. 6 gold producer and about 10
percent of its gold comes from Madre de Dios. Around 10,000
people in the region are thought to earn a living from illegal
mining.

Earlier this month, Peru's armed forces launched an
unprecedented campaign to halt illegal mining in the area, near
Peru's border with Brazil and Bolivia.

About 1,000 police and infantrymen are taking part in an
operation to destroy wildcat mining equipment.

Social conflict over natural resources is already a central
theme in the presidential race as a third of Peruvians live in
poverty and many have been left out of a commodities boom that
fueled a past decade of strong economic growth.
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Six people were killed in April 2010 when police clashed
with wildcat miners, and days later farmers blocked roads to
halt a mine planned by a company with Mexican roots.

Thirty people died in a violent conflict over proposed oil
drilling on indigenous lands in June 2009, which prompted
Garcia to fire his entire cabinet.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)